Episode 7.2: Who Benefits from Palliative Care and Why

Dr. Lynne Kennedy is the Clinical Director of Palliative Care for the Inova Health System. She explains that palliative care is a model of care that began to develop in the mid-1970’s and has grown exponentially in the past few decades. Palliative care is a team-based approach to care that focuses on relieving symptoms that occur in serious illness and improving quality of life for these patients and their families. People on Palliative Care Teams typically include physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other specialists in palliative care with the goal of meeting the patient and family member’s physical, emotional, spiritual, and personal needs across the lifespan.¹

Palliative care services at Inova include inpatient palliative care services, symptom management, 24-hour availability, Social Services support, and others. More information can be found here.

Show originally aired August 28th, 2017

1. Meier DE, Back AL, Berman A, Block SD, Corrigan JM, Morrison RS. A National Strategy For Palliative Care. Health Aff (Millwood). 2017;36(7):1265-1273.